


Agent of...What?

by Tazerina



Series: Agents of Coulson [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Phil Coulson, Backstory, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Clint Barton Feels, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Clint Barton's Farm, Clint Barton-centric, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen, POV Clint Barton, Phil Coulson Has the Patience of a Saint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 17:25:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16123286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tazerina/pseuds/Tazerina
Summary: No one knows how Clint came to be part of SHIELD. Not even Hill. Not even Fury. Only Coulson. Of course there is speculation, but Clint always just laughs and leaves. Coulson just gets the strangest look on his face, the only other time that his face makes an expression.





	Agent of...What?

These are the worst thugs that Clint had ever seen, and he had seen a lot. But somehow, these guys had never been pinned, and that told him that even though they were very bad at their job, what they did was even worse. It was probably very lucrative also if they were able to bribe their way out from under so much crime. Maybe they even had a couple inside men, probably high ups with the kind of operation they were running. Whoever had set this up was smart, very smart, which made Clint wonder why it was run so sloppily. Even their grunts didn’t look very… grunt-y. But that didn’t bother Clint, not one bit (maybe it should have, but it didn’t). Actually, it made his job a lot easier. 

Whoever these people where, had kidnapped thee wrong man’s daughter, and even though it was obvious where they had taken the girl, there was no way in. Enter Clint stage left, having been hired for his reputation of ability to do the impossible. Which led Clint to where he was now, watching the location where the girl was being held. Clint didn’t have enough time to establish their patterns, but it didn’t really mater. Patters were broken all the time, and Clint had learned early on to not depend on them. Or anything or anyone really. That’s why he didn’t work with a partner. 

Clint didn’t like uncontrolled variables. That is also why he used a bow and arrow, although unconventional, he found them to be much more reliable then guns. A gunshot can never truly be silenced, and it is easily recognizable, but the singing vibration of an arrow can’t be heard until it is too late, if one ever does hear it. That silence was key to Clint. Considering that he worked alone, if anyone realized that he was there, it would be hard to fight his way out by himself. Clint had worked with people in the past and they had found his silence to be… disquieting if you will excuse the pun (or even if you don’t, Clint likes to use them occasionally often). 

There were a lot of things about Clint that were unconventional: his bow, his silence, his lack of a partner, even his plan of attack. In general, it is thought that the change of watch/guards is the best time to enter undetected. Clint knows better, and he watches until the thugs settle in and become complacent at their post. It is also thought that if no one sees you, no one will notice you, but Clint has learned that it is better to be seen and dismissed than to be unseen and noticed.

The technique had been very useful in his childhood. With his father, out of sight didn’t always mean out of mind. If he made an appearance to his father and appeased him by some chore that required Clint to be outside instead of inside with his father, then Clint only got hit a couple of times instead of a full beating. Since then, Clint had gotten better at drawing just the right amount of attention to fly under the radar, and not get hit at all. 

It is almost impossible to get in completely unseen, but once he was in, Clint could disappear none the wiser and do his job. Today’s job of getting in was even easier than usual since the thugs were so incompetent, but Clint stayed on his toes and out of cameras. Risks that don’t need to be taken, shouldn’t be taken. It was kind of ironic that a person with such a dangerous job and history would say something like that, but Clint wasn’t in this business for the thrills, but for the money. And everyone knows that you can’t spend money unless you are still breathing, or unless you have a family that can start some kind of charity or something and name it after you. (It was ceaselessly amusing to Clint to hear about a charity that he knew for a fact was started by dirty money.) But Clint didn’t have any family, or anyone really, to leave his money to, so he did his best to stay alive if at all possible. He wanted to enjoy the millions he had worked so hard to accumulate by various means over the past few years.(Note to Self: find out if enough money has been saved to buy a private island.) Every death-defying jump and daring deed, was carefully calculated to ensure that.

This job promised him 2 million if he could complete it. First though he had to find the girl, and to do that he needed to find the control room, and to do that he needed to get into the vents. It was the only way to see the screens without hacking or being seen in the room, both of which practically guaranteed being noticed. In Clint’s opinion it didn’t matter how quiet you are, if you are in the same room as someone, they will notice you. It doesn’t matter how good you are, hacks always leave footprints. Even if it can’t be traced to you, they lead to someone and are therefore noticed.

After years spent traversing ventilation systems, Clint had an almost 6th sense for them. It took him no time at all to find the nearest opening and begin his journey down the shafts to the control room. This time, through trial, and a few errors, he was able to find what he was looking for. But at the same time, it wasn’t what he was hoping to see. There was the girl, with five rough looking guys. Not to say that Clint couldn’t hold his own in a fight against them, but it would be on the impossible side to keep her safe, not sound the alarm, and get out all at the same time. 

Under different circumstances, he would have winged it, but with a little girl, he wasn’t going to risk it. Adults too often think that kids are more resilient than they really are. There are some things you can’t just bounce back from. Some things leave a dent that never quite goes away, if Clint is any example. So, in order to prevent further damage, Clint was going to need a distraction. He would have to be careful if he was going to stay under the radar.

Just then two of the guys left the room, and Clint saw his chance. Since he didn’t believe in luck, he assumed that it was either a trap, or they would be back in a few minutes, so he needed to work carefully, quickly, and quietly if he was going to be able to pull this off. Dropping down into the hall in the camera’s blind spot took a bit of effort especially since he was having to tote his bow around. Clint felt a twinge in his ankle that hadn't been there earlier. Must have landed wrong, amateur. (Note to Self: find a better way to carry bow.) It was a good thing he had ended up bringing it. Clint had a feeling he was going to be needing it today, very soon probably.

Now all he needed to do was get into the room, neutralize the 2 thugs left guard, release the girl, hope that she didn’t try to fight against him, and somewhere in between all that, he was going to need to come up with a distraction so they could get out unseen, because at this point, he knew there was no way to get out unnoticed... Maybe it was time to give up subtlety, maybe it was time to be seen. With the new plan in mind, Clint secured the quiver on his back and adjusted his grip on bow. He had one chance at surprising the thugs, so he was going to have to make it good. After all, he had been in the circus for 6 years why waste all that brilliant showmanship?

Bursting through the door with an amazing display of acrobatics might not be the most efficient method, but it is a damned effective distraction. Loosing arrows while flipping through the air might not be easy, but it is damned impressive. Sticking the landing just right might not be the best idea though. Its damned painful with a still healing sprained ankle. (Note to self: land on the non-injured body part if at all possible.) His arrows had hit their targets (as if there was ever a doubt), the girl didn't look too traumatized by his entrance, and there didn't seem to be any alarm going off anywhere, but that didn't make Clint feel any better. The sooner they got out the sooner he got paid, the sooner he could (possible) get a private island.

Three hours, seventeen arrows (not including 6 reusable arrows and the 2 grapple line arrows), a massive headache later, and lots of other things that Clint just didn't want to talk about right now, he made it back to his safe house to arrange pickup for the girl. Surprisingly, the headache hadn't been caused by the girl. No she had been scary calm through the whole thing, Clint didn't want to think about why, but he knew anyways. That girl had been kidnapped too many times for it to phase her anymore. (Note to Self: figure out a way to help.) Actually the headache was caused by some guy in a suit. He had to be some kind of government man. This was the second time in the last eight jobs that he had seen him. There was no way that was a coincidence. After he was done with this job, he was going to have to go to ground. The private island would have to wait.


End file.
